Retribution
by Hazardous By Instinct
Summary: In a small city south of Michigan, a new team of vigilantes are determined to take criminals off the street by any means necessary. Almost everyone in this story is an OC.
1. Chapter 1

_DISCLAIMER: I do not own DC Comics or any of its characters. _

_**INTRO**_

The world is strange nowadays. Crime pollutes cities all around the world, in more ways than one, it'll always be around. The government is too scared to go out into the streets and take crime down. They stay back and hide behind procedure, laws, and the rights of the criminals themselves. Criminal underground organizations make money by breaking the law then bending these laws, rights, and procedures against the government. No one will ever take them down if no one tries to stop them on their own.

All around the world people fight against crime, taking the law in their own hands. People like Batman, Green Arrow, Flash and do the government's job better than the government itself. However, the law fights back and declares the people who take the law into their own hands, vigilantes and say they need to be put in jail. They do not give them credit as the actual heroes that they are. 

When they finally bring themselves to like those heroes they stick with them until something goes wrong. Once this happens, all of the blame goes onto the vigilante, making them wanted criminals again. 

Even though those vigilantes protect the streets of places like Gotham, Metropolis and Central City, they still don't do it well. There are some psychopathic criminals that believe they can outdo the hero in terms of combat. They do the opposite, yet the same thing as the police. They try to get vigilantes off the street, but instead of bringing them in, they try to kill them for thwarting crimes all across that city.

Some of them just do what they do because they like to kill and they have few fights with vigilantes. No one will stop them and just end their reign of terror that they've spread across the streets, for no one has the guts to do what is needed and kill them. If a criminal knew someone that is willing to kill them to get them off the streets was watching them, they would most likely think twice about crime.

Too bad no one is willing to kill them though. Well, other than us. Here in Jadeite City, we get lots of low down, dirty criminals that stop at nothing to get what they want. Just a week ago we gathered and made ourselves known to the public by providing a just act. The criminal we caught, his name was Antonio Perez, a man who owned a local gang. A kid he was talking to did not listen to him or talk to him since he was a stranger. Antonio ripped off one of the child's ears.

To make it short, we fought him and one of his ears came off before we brought him in along with his whole gang. We make our own consequences for criminals we deal with. An arm for an arm, an ear for an ear, a life for a life, you get it. Everything they do will be used against them.

We are vengence. We are the Underground.

**And there is an intro. The first real chapter will be the shortest I write and I'll introduce characters next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or any of the characters associated with it. This is a non profit fan based work of fiction.**

**Rated T for violence, some language, and more violence, enjoy.**

_**IMPORTANT**_- When a word that isn't English is in the story it'll be next to a bolded word in brackets that'll have its translated meaning.

_**Chapter 1**_

_**Part 1**_

Within the crime infested city it snowed heavily down on its inhabitants. The snow was a foot in depth and was everywhere with an exception to the streets that were cleared off so cars could go by. The one weather symptom did a lot of good, allowing some adults to be relieved from work and children from school. Though the snow did have one major problem, it makes it harder for you to run for your life.

A man wearing a black heavy coat, blue jeans and boots had a man and a woman that was with him cornered in a dark alley at gunpoint that night. "Don't one of you move. All I want is your money." The man in the coat said.

The two reached into their pockets and gathered what little money they had at the time out. The criminal snatched it out of their hands. He looked at the duo and shook his head, raising the gun up to the woman's head, "Ladies first." He muttered.

As he was about to pull the trigger a hand took his gun from behind him. "If you want money, get a job." A voice behind him joked. He turned around to meet a masked man whose costume consisted of a white domino mask, a blue padded shirt underneath a white jacket, white pants, blue boots and mechanical gloves.

The man ran out the alley and through the snow on the sidewalk. The vigilante pointed his mechanical gloves at the ground beneath him. A clear blue platform made of energy formed underneath his feet. The platform rose off the ground and started to fly. He flew down the street after the criminal and crashed the bottom of the platform into the back of the criminal, knocking the man off his feet.

"Who are you?" the mugger asked.

"Photon." The vigilante answered. "Otherwise known as the guy who kicked your ass."

A fist shaped energy construct came out of his gloves and hit the man in the head, knocking him out.

The vigilante that claimed to be named 'Photon' walked over and took the money from the criminal and returned it to the people who he stole it from. "Thanks uh….kid." the man said.

"Just stay out of dark alleys and I am not a kid I am just a very short adult." Photon stated before forming another energy platform. He stepped on it and waved at the two before the rectangular energy construct lifted off the ground and flew off.

As he flew above the rooftops he pressed a button on the side of his left mechanical glove. A gruff male voice came through a communicator in his ear and asked, "What is it now?"

"I just stopped a mugging in a dark alley, beat that." Photon replied.

"I don't care Mike, now go back to our base so you can meet the rest of the team, rookie." It demanded briefly before shutting off.

"Why does Outcast have to be so angry all the time?" the masked hero asked himself. He sped up toward an old abandoned apartment building on an inactive street. He lowered himself down to the ground and he stepped off of his construct then made it disappear.

Photon opened the door and walked in. He walked through a run down version of what used to be a lobby and to a door that led to a basement. He went down a staircase and eventually found the headquarters of the team he is apart of.

There were already four people down there. The one known as Outcast wore a black mask that covers his whole head, a dark grey long sleeved padded shirt, black combat pants and dark grey boots.

The next one wore a black hooded coat that reached down to his knees. The coat had a red design on it that added color to it. He wasn't wearing the hood at the time so you could see his dark brown hair and the scar running down the right side of his pale face. He had black pants and boots as well.

The third was a young woman that wore a mainly blue costume that consisted of blue whole body tights underneath a black skirt, black boots and a black hood that came down as a cape. She had straight brown hair that came down to her mid-back. The heroine wore a blue domino mask over her green eyes and blue fingerless gloves.

Next was a man in a green face mask, a green padded shirt underneath a long white trench coat, white pants and boots. He had a green belt that had gadgets in them and a white strap coming down from his right shoulder to his waist that also held many gadgets.

"You may now actually meet the rest of the team." Outcast said. "You know that I am Outcast, that is where I leave you." He then walked out the room leaving the other three to introduce themselves to the new member, Photon.

The man with black and red coat approached him, "Ciao il mio amico[**hello my friend**], I am Luca Mariano, but you may call me Obsidian during our missioni[**missions**]. I am the leader of la squadra[**the team**] that you are now apart of." He and Photon shook hands very briefly.

"Don't mind anything Luca just said, he's from Italy and is still learning English." the man in the green mask said. "I'm Jeff Powers, the guy that pays for everything here. Everyone else in this room is broke. Oh yeah my codename is Striker and you'll find out why later."

"He's got the most money, but Striker has the least brains in the room. My name is Roslyn Massey and when we meet in costume I'll be Blue Specter." The lady introduced herself.

"I'm Mike Stevens and I go by Photon." The newcomer greeted the others.

"No offense, but your name is really lame." Jeff stated.

"A photon is a quantum of visible light and I create a solid blue photon that I can shape into whatever I want, also it really is the only thing that matches my abilities." Mike replied.

Right then Outcast entered the room. "I'm guessing you've all become acquainted." He said.

"Wow Shaun, you really know when to show up and when to disappear on us don't you." Jeff affirmed.

"And your loud mouth is the reason why you have the least authority on this team, and now would be a time to shut up so Luca can go over the next mission." Outcast responded.

Luca nodded and approached a large screen. On the screen appeared a map of the city with red dots on certain parts of it. "Va bene allora[**alright** **then**], around the city thefts have all sprouted out in many banks where everything was stolen." He started as he looked towards his allies.

"Each time the fugitive responsible was spotted by the police and chased and they claimed that not only did his tracks in the neve[**snow**] go down four different paths, but he multiplied into many and each ran in opposite directions, throwing police off of his sentiero[**trail**] while he disappeared." He explained.

"From our research, the footprints were premade and the multiples were holograms that just followed the tracks." Shaun finished the briefing. "He or she hits a new bank every week at midnight and there is only one more bank in Jadeite."

"So we're going to stand outside of the Jadeite City Bank all night?" Roslyn asked.

"Spettro corretto[**correct specter**]." Obsidian spoke. "We are to keep watch until we see the ladro[**thief**]."

"But it's 10 PM! Are we really just going to sit out there for the next two fucking hours?!" Jeff complained.

"Dobiammo[**we must] **so get over it." Luca said. The large screen turned off and the leader of the team walked towards the exit. "Fretta[**hurry**] Jadeite City Bank is already closed."

Outcast followed after Luca and the other three after him. They took the stairs up to the lobby and took more stairs all the way up to the roof. "Now we split into groups; Blue Specter con[**with**] Striker, Photon con me[**with me**], and Outcast goes alone." Obsidian announced. "Each of us will take a different route to the banca[**bank**]."

The others of the group nodded in agreement and each duo and Outcast went separate directions. Striker and Specter went through the west route, Striker jumping rooftop to rooftop while Blue Specter flew beside him. Photon and Obsidian took towards the northwest, Photon constructing an energy platform for him and Obsidian to stand on as they flew. Outcast however, just dropped down to the ground and headed southwest from the land.

* * *

"Why were you acting so mean towards the new guy?" Blue Specter asked, looking down to her teammate

"I was just teasing him about his name, what's wrong with that." He answered.

"Just give him a chance before you judge him, okay?" she said.

"Yeah, yeah; I get it." He replied.

* * *

"Uh, boss why exactly did you pick me to be on the team?" Photon inquired.

"Cosa vuoi dire[**what do you mean**]?" the leader replied. There was a pause as Mike just stared at Obsidian. "I said what do you mean."

"Well, I'm inexperienced, I'm not that strong, and my stature is no where near intimidating." He explained and referred to his 5'3 body at the last part. "Why on Earth would you choose me to join your team?"

"You started as a vigilante last week, using construtti di energia[**energy constructs**] to fight crime. The only strength required for you is just enough to carry your metal guanti[**gloves**]." He said. "As for inexperience, you possess potenziale[**potential**] that if you can unlock over time to become better, but you alone are not enough to stop crime. Within a month you'd either be dead or your l'orgoglio e la volontà[**pride and will**] would be distrutto[**destroyed**] and your potential to waste."

"Wait, why didn't you get me personally if I have so much potential?" Photon questioned.

"I was preoccupied and Outcast had just happened to not have anything important to do, so I sent him to recruit you. Anche se[**though**], usually I am the one who does any and all reclutamento[**recruiting**] to the team." Obsidian said.

* * *

Striker and Blue Specter came to a stop on a building across the street from the Jadeite City Bank. They saw a couple whites van parked in diverse locations that are all seven blocks from the building. Along with four men who all wore the same exact pair of shoes. They had covered up all of their old tracks from their walk to the bank then all went in different directions to make many identical tracks in separate paths. They all got into the separate vans and drove off.

Striker pressed a button on the side of his green facemask and contacted Obsidian, "We found out how they make the false footprints." He reported.

Obsidian nodded and said back, "Buono[**good**], which direction?" he asked.

"I don't have a compass." He replied.

"One went south." Blue Specter cut in. "That's closer to Outcast."

"What's close to me?" Outcast's voice came onto the communicator as well.

"The criminali[**criminals**] that plant fake footprints." Obsidian answered.

"They'll be in white vans." Blue Specter stated.

"That's a little cliché for criminals that have stolen over half a million dollars in a month." Striker commented. After Striker's comment everyone shut off their communicators.

* * *

Outcast saw one of the vans drive past him. He then took the time to make his way up to the rooftops. He ran after the vehicle from above for around thirty seconds before jumping off the roof and onto the top of the car.

"Hey what was that?" a voice from inside yelled.

"I dunno, you check I'm tryin to drive." Another answered.

A thug in the passenger seat rolled down his window and stuck his head out. The said thug was grabbed by his collar and pulled out the window and onto the roof of the vehicle with Outcast. The thug was tossed off the moving van and onto the street. Outcast jumped through the window the thug came through and sat in the seat beside the one driving the car. "Stop the van." He commanded.

Instead of doing as he was told the driver sped up. The vigilante grabbed the driver's head and shoved it into the window, causing the driver to accidently drive off the street, onto the sidewalk and into a fire hydrant on the driver's side. Outcast stepped out the van and came around the other side. He pulled the door open and grabbed the driver by the back of his neck. He heaved the man out the vehicle and into the snow.

"What the hell, you could've killed me!" he yelled at Outcast.

"I don't intend to kill you, but I'll definitely make you suffer for your crimes." Outcast replied. He kicked the thug's torso and an audible crack was the outcome. "I think that was your rib cage."

"What type of a hero are you?"

"One that's pissed off with life." He stepped on the man's leg, "where do the other vans similar to the one you used to drive go after the footprints are planted?"

The criminals replied by spitting upward at Outcast. Outcast wiped it off his mask and lifted his foot off the man's leg then stomped on his knee, earning a scream from the thug. "Th-They go out to a wh- whole bunch of different car rental places." He said.

"And the other low lives that drive them?" he mentioned putting more wait on the man's knee.

"The Masters Incorporated headquarters." He answered.

"That wasn't hard was it, now I'll just leave you here for cops to find." Outcast said. He tied the man to a pole and left a note, stapled to his ear. "Just hope someone notices you here and calls 911 before you freeze to death, bye."

As Outcast started to climb a building, he turned on his communicator, "Masters Inc. is behind the robberies and the vans are rentals." He confirmed.

"Masters Inc. is apart of a government program isn't it?" Photon replied on the other end.

"They used to be funded by the U.S. Department of Defense since they were a major security system company." Blue Specter answered.

"They were replaced over the years by other security companies and now they are bankrupt." Striker added.

"And they now resort to rubare[**stealing from**] the very places they used to protect." Obsidian finished.

"I'll meet you all at the bank." Outcast stated.

**And that's the end of the chapter. Over time more OC superheroes and villains shall appear and join the team or be bad guys they encounter. We will find out exactly who robbed the bank and how the heroes will stop them while I come up with a better team name for them.**

**Remember to Read and Review. Please tell me what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the DC Comics or any of the characters associated with it, this is a non profit work of fiction.**_

_**Chapter 1**_

_**Part 2**_

Photon and Obsidian landed right beside Blue Specter and Striker on the rooftop across the street from the city's largest bank. "It's about time." Striker said.

"Outcast isn't here yet though." Photon pointed out.

"Yeah I can see that rookie." Striker replied.

"Sta 'zitto[**be quiet**] I see the ladro[**thief**] entering the bank." Obsidian said as he pointed down to a bald skinny man who was holding some kind of device up to the door. The man wore a black mask that only covered his face. The man wore a black long sleeved shirt and black pants with black boots on. His device started to glow blue then the door immediately opened. As the man walked in the door closed back behind him.

"Andiamo[**let's go**]" Obsidian commanded, jumping off the rooftop and landing on his feet on the ground. The rest of the team followed behind him; Striker jumping down onto a truck to break his fall, Specter just floating down, and Photon creating a platform to bring himself down on. The group approached the door.

"I'll blow it down." Striker said.

"No, we don't need him to know we're here." Blue Specter said. "I'll just open it from the other side." She walked up to the door and pushed her hand onto it. That part of the door started to turn blue and then she started to move towards it. Specter had then just phased right through the door.

"Is that why she's named specter?" Photon asked.

"Of course, did you think she'd have super strength or something?" Striker replied as the door opened up and Blue Specter stood in front of them.

The group moved in after the thief and started to pass by many dead guards. "Okay there is no way that scrawny bald guy did this." Striker said, looking around.

"Nevertheless there are numerous possibilities that I can utilize to incapacitate feeble sentries." A voice said coming from behind the counter of the bank. The bald man jumped over the counter and dropped a large bag on the ground beside him.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Obsidian asked, taking steps closer.

"Identities are not imperative, there is no underlying principle to provide you with mine." The man answered. "I necessitate this currency for an assignment that requires much time and resources."

"Yeah, I can't understand you so I'm gonna move on to kicking your bony ass." Striker yelled as he reached into his pocket to pull out small metal marbles. He squeezed the marbles and they started to flash white, then he threw them at the man. They all blew up, launching the thief backwards over the counter.

The burglar stood up holding his head. "If that is how you would prefer this situation to be resolved, than I shall demonstrate how I debilitated those guards." He said.

The man pulled out a small gold necklace with a gold crystal shaped pendant. His face mask began to change into a full helmet. A frequency came from the pendant, causing pain to the minds of the group.

"Che diavolo sta succedendo[**What the hell is going on**]?" Obsidian shouted. He dropped to his knees holding his head.

"I am accessing your psyche and slowly destroying it." The thief answered as he approached the leader. "And at the same pace you'll die." He sent a kick towards Obsidian's chest and a loud crack was heard, coming from the man's foot. The bald man dropped the pendant and fell to the ground holding his foot.

Obsidian's hand turned into a black rock like substance and he crushed the pendant under his fist, causing the frequency to stop.

"What are you made of?" Photon asked.

"I can generate stone over parts of my body." Obsidian answered.

"Why can't I move?" Blue Specter asked.

"Because my pendant was designed to temporarily paralyze victims who don't die from it." The man said. He was getting up; it seemed as if his foot was never hurt. He approached the large bag of money and proceeded to exit the building through the front door.

He opened the door expecting police as he walked out, but was greeted by a kick to the side of his knee causing him to howl in pain. He found himself being lifted off the ground by his shirt by Outcast. The hero looked at his paralyzed team and looked back at the man. "Tell me what you're here for and I might let you live."

"I am collecting funds for my cause." He answered.

"What cause could Masters Inc. want all of this money for?"

"Masters Incorporated itself is not responsible for such, but their proprietor, like me, is apart of a much superior foundation."

"I said I might let you live."

"The human mind is a puzzle, an unsolved mystery; once it was solved I am no longer affected by the intimidation people similar to you pose upon me." The bald man said as a portal was silently opening up behind Outcast.

A large man stepped out of the portal and stood behind Outcast breathing heavily. He was taller than Outcast by at least a foot and had an unnaturally muscular build. The man had slicked back brown hair and wore a large black bullet proof vest, white pants and black shoes. "Let go of Paradox." He said.

"Who's your friend?" Outcast asked.

"Fortis." The bald man, now known as Paradox confirmed.

Fortis grabbed Outcast and pulled him away from Paradox. He threw the vigilante into a car and took Paradox into the portal with him. Just then, to make the situation worse, police sirens could be heard coming towards the bank.

Outcast stood up and staggered his way to the rest of the team. He took Photon's gloves and used them to make a platform large enough for the whole team. The platform rose up off the ground and flew out the door with the team on board and back to the headquarters.

Soon the team's paralysis wore off as they lay on the floor of their headquarters. "Damn you Outcast, you could've put us on something other than the cement floor." Striker exclaimed as he got up holding his back.

"Would you prefer the sidewalk?" Outcast replied, sitting in front of a large computer screen.

"Il pavimento[**the floor**] is fine." Obsidian said.

"While you all were lying down I was searching up Masters Inc." Outcast stated. "I found out that their owner Nero Masters has been missing for 15 years now."

"So what, that just means he had nothing to do with it." Photon replied.

"Not true, that adds more suspicion." Blue Specter said.

"There is un ampio divario[**a large gap**] between when he first disappeared and now." Obsidian said.

"He disappeared, the company went bankrupt, and a series of bank robberies linked to his bankrupt company all happened within that gap." Outcast said. "The bank robber told me the he and Nero were of a higher cause, confirming that Nero is apart of the illegal activity."

"The question is what were they funding that pushed them into stealing from banks?" Specter pointed out.

There was a pause for a few seconds of silence as the question was asked. "Do you guys always just summarize facts before and after missions like this all the time?" Photon asked.

"I asked the same thing." Striker said. "No matter how hard you try, you'll eventually end up doing it too."

After minutes of discussing Masters Incorporated, Paradox, and Nero the group finally came to a stop.

"Si sta facendo tardi[**it's getting late**] we meet back up here in two days." Obsidian said.

"Why in two days?" Photon asked.

"Because we've all got stuff to do on Saturdays; Luca has fights, I have meetings, its Shaun's day off and Roslyn does some type of thing at a library." Striker answered. By the time he finished he and Photon were the only two in the room. "So what do you do nerd?"

"I don't have a job." He replied.

"Don't worry Mike; you don't need a job to be happy, then again I make more in a month than you would in a decade." Striker said as he took off his mask.

"Yeah Jeff, telling how much money you make in one month to a jobless guy really makes him feel better." Photon said.

"Just make sure you don't die before our next mission." Striker walked away, leaving Photon just standing there.

Paradox and the large man known as Fortis came through the other side of the portal to see a large building in some strange place. The building's surroundings were nothing, but endless white though it seemed like it wasn't even on Earth. The two approached the large building and the door opened itself revealing many people walking around with only small amounts of chatter being heard. The two approached a wall, which then opened into an elevator.

Paradox stepped into it alone while Fortis left him there. As the elevator descended it soon came to a stop at the very bottom. As the door opened it revealed a man wearing an all white suit, who was there waiting for Paradox. He had short gray straight hair and a beard.

"Paradox my friend, did you set it up?" the man said in a monotone voice.

"Certainly Void, I have positioned the emitter in every vault in Jadiete and achieved funds for the substances desirable for the side project." Paradox answered.

"Good, once the emitters are activated my powers will be amplified and I will be able to re-enter Earth's dimension." The man identified as Void replied. "Now, you've proven your worth. Welcome to the Apex Network."

"How did you get stuck here?" Paradox asked.

"As you may know, I create portals." He started. "When I created the prototype to the emitters that amplify my power and when I used it, the machine blew and I was stuck here. However, I can still bring almost anything here and I've been managing to persuade geniuses like you to join what my true cause was before I was sent here forty years ago."

"Which is?" Paradox asked.

"As I discovered when I was young, the world was filled with horrible, insignificant, and ignorant people who ruin the world. I simply wish to fix it by conquering the world and eliminating those people." He stated.

"What will that accomplish?" Paradox replied.

"The two main reasons for destruction on Earth are violence and wants." Void said. "By eliminating all, but the smart there will be less wants and everyone else who is smart enough to know consequences of their wants will be aligned under one leader, which means no one will be against each other. In other words, world peace."

"But they balance out society, eradicating them would be an inhumane and unintelligent choice." Paradox argued. "I cannot stand with you on this."

Void chuckled lightly and sighed. "Fortis, take him to Nero." Void commanded. Almost immediately Fortis came up behind Paradox and picked him up, bringing him to Nero. He carried the panicking Paradox down the hall to what looked like a medical room.

"Dr. Masters, Paradox is to be treated." Fortis stated as he set down Paradox on a metal bed.

A man came out in a lab coat with a syringe in his hand momentarily. He was bald with a brown mustache and he stood no more than six feet tall. He approached Paradox slowly. "This will hurt now, but you won't remember this ever happening later." He said.

Void entered the room where his secondary project was being contained. From the looks of it, the project was a 14 year old boy locked in a clear room. The child was tied to a chair with a rag over his mouth, keeping him quiet. There were many scientists around the room moving about.

Void opened a portal and entered the room on the other side. "Mr. Koor Veilem, my favorite little technopath." He greeted. "I've contained you here for months now, but within weeks I can control you, of course it'll be tricky since you've messed up many of my machines."

Void grabbed the boy by his blonde hair and looked him in his silver eyes. "When I saw your abilities I captured you, since then I've gone through many attempts to control you, but soon I will actually do it and I will use you for when I take Earth."

"Until then however, you'll be left in this nice, empty room without technology while I continue to plot." Void stated as he pushed the chair over, causing Koor to fall onto his side, still bound to the seat. "Farewell, for now."

**And that's it, sorry for the long wait. I am going through mass writer's block, deriving from stress created by school work, a lot of tests, and many projects. Finally, I made this. It is not as good as the last chapter, but again writer's block. My imagination is not as vivid as it was two months ago.**

**Koor Veilem belongs to Undiscovered Poet**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: For those who first started reading this story, the team name was stated in the first chapter. I recently found out that name was taken and I changed it to the Underground. If anyone has any other ideas for a team name, please help me out and suggest it.**

**Thanks to JBAT13 for helping me with this chapter.**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or any characters affiliated with it. This is a non profit fan based work of fiction.**_

**Chapter 2**

Void walked into a room that contained many weapons created by some of the many scientists dedicated to his cause. Paradox waited in the room for him. "I believe you enjoyed your trip to Dr. Masters." Void said.

"Yes, my mind-set on your operations are changed and I am ready to serve you." He replied.

"Good, now you know how I've gathered such a large amount of geniuses." Void said. "Dr. Masters is the only one here by his own will." He walked over and picked up a small pistol-like weapon. "And they were generous enough to make me these weapons, and they will come in handy."

"I fail to see why you had me conceal your emitters within banks." Paradox stated, speeding up to make sure he wouldn't be left behind.

"There are five major banks within Jadeite City and you place my emitters inside the vault of each one." He began. "Even if one were to find out that my powers were amplified by them, they'd have to break into a vault to find a well hidden device that isn't even the size of a potato chip before they could even hack it." He stopped walking and looked at Paradox. "It's harder than it sounds."

"What if five emitters aren't enough, or are found?"

"Each one has enough energy to provide energy to a skyscraper, and for your sake they better not be found." Void picked up a box from a weapon rack. "I also suggest you don't ask another question, or Fortis will have a new training dummy." He left Paradox in the room and headed down the hall.

"…. The new Chinese President, Weimin Renshu, is now…" The channel on the TV repeatedly changed as Jeff, otherwise known as Striker pressed the button. "Actor and Gotham City resident…." He kept on going through the channels and eventually came to a live clip on Jadeite City's news channel.

"Hello everyone sitting at home and goodbye to those who are with me." A man with a brown mohawk and goatee said on the screen. From the looks of him, he was no reporter. He wore all black clothes and didn't bother to conceal his face as he held a remote in his hand, surrounded by several frightened people who are all tied to chairs.

"What you are witnessing is my hostage situation, and what I want is to challenge the dumbasses of Jadeite City's police force." The man said. "My name is Gregory Stilson and here with me are 15 random civilians and within this building is about two hundred pounds of explosives and I hold the trigger."

"If no one finds them in ten minutes, they all die." Gregory explained. He shut off the camera and the screen went black, momentarily leaving Jeff in shock.

He got up and went to his closet, pulling out his hero outfit. After putting it on he immediately went up to the rooftop and opened a secret compartment on the edge of the building. Inside there was a button and some type of ear piece. Striker pressed the button and put on the ear piece. Soon after pressing the button a hover board sped to a stop near him. He looked down to the street to see police cars zooming past and sirens going off loudly.

"Obsidian, Outcast, Photon, Blue Specter, it's Striker, did you hear about the bomb threat?" he asked.

"Who didn't, and on Outcast's day off too." Photon replied.

"If I know him well, he'll be pissed." Specter said.

"I've known him for many anni[**years**] and trust me, his sabato[**Saturdays**] should never be touched." Obsidian stated.

"We're on a ten minute time limit." Outcast noted.

"We know that, we're just trying to lighten the mood, no one can be as serious as you all the time." Photon said.

"Photon and Striker head north, Blue Specter go west, Outcast to the south, I'm going east." Obsidian explained. "Alert us if you find them."

The groups headed in their designated search areas. Striker met up with Photon on the northern part of the city. The two flew side by side, Striker on his hover board and Photon on his platform. "When did you get a hover board?" Photon asked.

"It's new, now let's get to work." Striker answered as the two started looking into windows on both sides of the street.

Specter phased threw the walls of buildings on the western side of the city as she flew. She hoped that she could find the hostages easier this way. "I've searched five buildings already and still, nothing." She said.

Obsidian ran up the stairs and stopped whenever he saw a room in the building he was currently checking. He exited the building through the roof and jumped on to the next one. He used the roof exit to the next building as an entrance and checked every room on the way down. "Two buildings, no results." He yelled.

Outcast held a small device as he ran on the rooftops. It was a bomb detector and he was planning on just waiting until the beeping increases to check a building. "I'm detecting no bomb so far and there is about five minutes left." Outcast reported.

The team continued to search the city, hoping to find the captives before the explosion goes off.

"Hey, me and Photon found something on Carriker street." Strike said.

"What's the address?" Obsidian asked breathing heavily.

"4614 Carriker street, you know that building that you see right before the road to the Jadeite City jade mines starts." Photon said. "You sound tired bro, too much running for you."

"We're on the way, head on in" Obsidian replied and the rest of the team started to head towards Striker and Photon's position. As they got there, they rushed up to the door and the building exploded with Photon and Striker inside. The three outside were launched backwards from the impact. The building was up in flames, filling the sky with smoke.

"No, they were in there!" Specter shouted. The two soon exited the building surrounded by a blue sphere. Striker and Photon had cuts and burns, also a majority of their outfits were torn up.

"We couldn't get to anyone." Photon said. He was truly disappointed. On his second day with the team, fifteen people died.

"Return to sede centrale[headquarters] the police will be here shortly." Obsidian commanded.

The team disappeared from the area, quickly without being seen. Within minutes they met back up at the run down apartment building that hid their base. Photon sat in a chair with his head hung in defeat. Striker came and sat in a seat next to him.

"You need to work on your reflexes." He said. "I mean seriously, you didn't use your constructs in time to stop the flames from burning us or pieces of wood tearing at us."

"Shut the hell up and leave me alone." Photon replied quietly. "15 deaths at once all in one day because I couldn't save them, I don't feel like speaking."

"Okay, so a few innocents died." Striker started. "It happens all the time, especially here, but at least we're alive right?"

Photon didn't say anything in return. He just stared at Striker with a 'Go to Hell and burn,' look. Striker sighed and stood up. He had given up on talking with Photon, it was impossible.

"Okay, I'm going to go treat my injuries." Striker said. "But you better not hold us back on our next mission." He turned to walk away, but as he turned around Blue Specter stood in front of him.

"You two can't work together for one mission can you?" she said. "If we're gonna be a team, you guys need to get along."

"We don't need to be friends to work together." Striker said, taking off his face mask. "And Mr. Too-good-to-get-his-hands-dirty and I don't like each other."

"Well the both of you need to get it together or-"Specter was cut off when Outcast stepped in between her and Striker.

"Silence and let the two have it their way," he said. "I found out what Stilson is doing next and I have a plan to find him before the bombs go off this time."

"Who died and made you the leader?" Striker asked.

"Chiudi la bocca[shut your mouth] Striker, Outcast is the reason this team exists and he is the most skilled of us all." Obsidian spoke up as he pulled off his hood. "Now, cosa stavi dicendo[what were you saying]?" The room grew quiet and they looked to Outcast so he could finish what he was going to say.

"We need to bring in the three reserve members first, we need as many people as we can possibly get." He said.

"Reserve members?" Photon questioned.

"Other members of our team who couldn't join due to lack of control or being preoccupied." Obsidian quickly explained. "Malice, Lady Shogun and Osseous are their names, and all two of the three live here. Lady Shogun is currently in Michigan, which is only an hour or two away."

"Why Malice? He's so dangerous." Striker asked.

"Because he can hunt down the bomber. I'll go get him; Obsidian will find Osseous and Specter to Lady Shogun." Outcast answered.

"And us?" Striker and Photon asked in unison.

"You two stay here and work out your problem, hopefully you can fix it before we get back for the full team briefing." Outcast replied. He, Specter and Obsidian left the room quickly. The door shut, leaving Striker and Photon in the headquarters.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as neither one of the two could think of what to say. Photon felt blameworthy for what happened to the innocents killed in the explosion and Striker honestly didn't care about failing to stop the bomber.

"I doubt they'll let us help find Stilson if you're like this." Striker broke the silence. "You have to be careless for some things; in this case you shouldn't care for lives lost."

"I can't just stop caring. No one ever cared for me when I was young so I know how that feels, I won't let others feel the same way." Photon replied. "I let them down, they died."

"Your job isn't to care for them when you're a vigilante; your job is to protect them." Striker pointed out. "On this team we protect citizens when we can, but our main job is to stop bad guys, and choose the punishment for the bad guys we catch."

"You should care, if you think every life in this city is expendable as long as you catch the criminals, you're just as psychopathic as them." Photon said.

Outcast looked at Obsidian and Blue Specter. "Specter, how fast can you get to Lady Shogun?" he asked.

"Like the necklace I wear under my hood that lets me fly and phase through walls, I have a teleportation one that I practice with." She explained. "I'm not very good with it, but I'll be able to get her from Michigan to here in about thirty minutes."

"Better than an hour; Obsidian, I trust you can find your cousin Osseous with out a problem." Outcast said.

"Si che posso[yes I can], but will you be okay with Malice?" He answered. "He was named that for a buona ragione[good reason]."

"I'll be fine, now hurry up and leave." Outcast replied. The two nodded and ran off. After they were gone, Outcast started to head down the street at a fast pace.

"Maybe Blue Specter is right, maybe we will have to get along for this team thing to work out." Striker said. He was now pacing back and forth in the room while Photon still sat in a chair.

"But our views on the citizens are different, it won't work." Photon said. "I can't handle having the blood of civilians on my hands while you will do anything to bring the criminals down, even if lives are lost."

"That's not what I said; I said that we will save them when possible and that this team is meant to eliminate crime." Striker replied, taking a seat next to Photon. "The blood isn't on your hands anyway, it's on Gregory Stilson's and as long as we're alive, we can avenge them, whether it means killing or arresting Stilson. So wake up and get ready to hunt down a bomber."

Photon sat for a few moments to think. He knew Striker was right. He wasn't responsible for their deaths, but held himself accountable anyway. As long as he has the ability to find Stilson and take him down, their deaths weren't truly in vain.

Blue Specter teleported into a large, first-class house. She walked through the mansion quickly. Checking through many rooms, she eventually was starting to grow tired. "If I were the daughter of a world traveler, where would I be when I'm home?" she asked herself quietly.

"I know!" she said. Specter moved down the hall with haste. She soon came to a gym. The gym's whole floor was covered by a blue mat. The mat itself was covered in blood and sweat. In the center of the room, an Asian woman with her hair concealed in a bandana, wearing a white karate gi was skillfully dodging a man's strikes.

She grabbed the next punch the man through and flipped him over onto his back. The woman then proceeded to knock the man out with a strong punch to the head. She looked up and saw Specter standing in the doorway. "Oh, hello Blue, why are you here?" she asked concerned.

"Mila, the Underground needs you down in Jadeite City." Specter replied. "Who's that?"

"A sparring partner, I'll put on my gear and then you can take me to Jadeite." The woman, known as Mila replied, running out the room.

It had been around 35 minutes since the rest of the team had left the headquarters and the two were still sitting in the room alone. A blue light shone in the middle of the room and then faded away as two people showed up where it used to be. The first one was Blue Specter and the second could only be Lady Shogun.

Her black, shoulder length hair was tied back in one braid. She wore a white kimono with a katana strapped to her side. She had black sode, which were rectangular pieces of armor for shoulders and black shoes.

"Hey Lady Shogun, Blue Specter, how'd you guys beat Obsidian and Outcast here?" Striker asked.

"Teleportation, but I thought Obsidian would be here already." Specter answered.

"He has to deal with his crazy cousin remember." Striker replied. "Osseous, is a little out of the ordinary and hard to find at times."

A spike made of a bonelike material flew towards Obsidian and broke against his arm when his arm changed into black stone. "Che ha smesso di essere divertente anni fa[that stopped being funny years ago]" he said.

"Ho pensato che il mio senso dell'umorismo[I thought you liked my sense of humor]" A shorter man said as he approached Obsidian. "What do you need?"

"It isn't just me who needs you Demetrio." Obsidian replied. "We need as many team members possible hunting down l'uomo con le bombe[the man with bombs]."

"Then I'll get my costume and meet you at HQ." The man, now identified as Demetrio said.

Minutes later, Demetrio, wearing a brown, tight fitting shirt with holes cut at the elbows and shoulders, black pants with holes cut at the knees, brown shoes and a black domino mask walked over to the headquarters. Obsidian stood there waiting for him.

"What took you, and where did your other costume go?" he asked.

"Look, when you have my powers," Demetrio started. A spike made of bone came out of the back of his hand. "You run through costumes a little too easily."

"Qualunque[whatever] Osseous, we need to work quickly." Obsidian replied. The two headed inside and met with Photon, Striker, Lady Shogun, and Blue Specter.

"Hi, what took you two so long?" Blue Specter asked.

Osseous smiled and walked up to Specter. "Well cara[darling], I'd love to discuss it over the weekend." He said confidently. Obsidian walked over and dragged his cousin backwards.

"He is naturally an idiota[idiot], and he decided to rallentarci[slow us down]." Obsidian explained. "Has reietto[outcast] not yet arrived?"

"No, he's dealing with Malice." Lady Shogun answered. "I didn't think it'd take this long."

"I knew Malice was hard to get help from, but this is stupid, an explosion and he still is hiding." Striker stated.

"Who's Malice?" Photon asked.

"Right you're new; Malice is an ex-convict, he was taken out due to being needed out in Africa by his father." Specter began to explain. "I know that normally you can't be taken out of jail early because you're needed, but he really had to get out. They released him because his father is a monster hunter who is getting weaker at his old age."

"A monster was loose in Africa and Malice unwillingly murdered it. Before they could put him back in jail he hid here in Jadeite, from his father who wanted him to be another hunter and the police that want him back in jail." She finished.

"He doesn't come out for anything and is never seen." Obsidian said. "He met the team back when Outcast was the leader and Outcast had nearly died then, but that was years ago. Ora abbiamo bisogno di lui[now we need him], along with other abilities, he can track anything."

"That's the most bullshit I've ever heard, a monster hunter is so big and bad and he hides from the police and his weakened father." Lady said.

"I said his father is weaker, but he is still far stronger than most mortali[mortals]." Obsidian replied.

"Malice, come out or I'm coming in." Outcast said, beating on the door as he did. It was an old building that surprisingly looked to still be in good shape. There was no answer after Outcasts warning, so he reached into his belt and pulled out a small flat metal sheet. He used it to pick the door and entered the building.

It was just as nice on the inside as it was on the out. However, it'd probably look better if the room was lit with light bulbs instead of candles. Outcast made his way through the building and soon found his way to a basement. Despite the looks of the building, the basement looked just like anyone else's. Random things were stored down there and nearly everything looked normal.

That is until Outcast saw a table sitting in the middle of the floor with an open book, a lit candle, a pair of glasses and a knife on it. He looked to his sides and took a step towards it, only to be grabbed by the back of the head and pushed on the floor. He looked back to where it came from after he hit the ground.

A hand grabbed him by his shirt and picked him up off the ground and pressed him against the wall, face first. "What persuaded you to ever cross the threshold of my dwelling?" a chilling monotone voice said.

"I need your help, tracking a criminal." Outcast answered.

"What makes you think I'll help?" the voice said.

"I'll owe you one favor." Outcast replied.

There was a pause before the voice said anything in return. "Fine, who am I tracking?" It let go of Outcast, allowing him to turn around and see the voices owner.

He was a dark skinned man with his black hair cut short. He had one red eye and an eye without a pupil with a scar going through it. He had a scar going down from his chin to below his black button up shirt. He wore dark red dress pants and shoes. "Answer me." The man said.

"Malice I want you to track Gregory Stilson's location." Outcast answered.

"Follow me." Malice said, walking upstairs and down a hallway. Outcast followed him into an empty room filled with unlit candles.

Malice sat down, cross legged and closed his eyes. He sat like this for a few seconds before the candles lit up all of the sudden. He sat in silence for the next five minutes before standing up. The candles' fires were extinguished as he looked at Outcast.

"He is in the jadeite mines along with eight hostages at gun point with explosives tied to each." Malice said.

Outcast thanked Malice and walked out the building. He activated his communicator as he started to run towards the mines, "Get to Jadeite City's mines now, Stilson has hostages." He commanded.

The team rushed out the base quickly. Each one made their way to the mines. Once there they were greeted by Outcast. There were three caves and seven of them. They knew one of the caves led to Stilson and the hostages.

Striker and Photon nodded to each other and ran into the farthest to the left. Osseous, Blue Specter and Obsidian went into the second. That left Outcast and Lady Shogun to go into the last one.

As they walked through the cave, Photon and Striker moved quickly. "Why in a cave at the city's mines?" Photon asked.

"Because almost no one would expect him to sneak into the place that the city was named after with hostages, especially unnoticed." Striker answered. The two stopped when they heard a small audible click. Striker looked down and saw he stepped on some type of panel. "Get down." He grabbed Photon and brought himself and his partner to the ground, as an explosion went off and rocks fell, blocking the path ahead.

Striker turned on his communicator, "Watch out guys, this place is booby trapped." He said.

"Sappiamo[we know]." Obsidian replied. His arm was covered with black rock as he blocked a bullet with it. "He set a pistola[gun] to fire when we pass a motion sensor."

"That wasn't my fault, I didn't know." Osseous yelled.

Specter, Obsidian and Osseous kept moving throughout that direction after the gun ran out of ammunition. The three soon came close to an ending to the cave. Around the corner they heard a voice, "I'm going to end you all in 20, 19, 18."

The trio ran around only to see a prerecorded tape lying on the ground. Osseous walked forward and picked it up, "We fell for that." He said

"Drop it!" his cousin yelled.

"10, 9, 8, 0." The voice said, purposely skipping numbers. The small tape started to electrocute Osseous. The high voltage it gave off was surprising since the sound recorder was so small. Osseous dropped it as he fell to the ground, the hand he held it with smoking.

Obsidian picked up his cousin and looked at Specter. "Excuse him again, he's not smart." He said.

"I'm starting to think he was dropped when he was a baby." Specter grinned.

"He was… Down the stairs… A couple times." He replied. This caused Specter to stop smiling. "He turned out fine."

Lady used her katana to cut a bullet clean in half. She dodged the next and threw the katana at the motion sensor gun. The gun's barrel was too cut in half. She walked over and picked her katana back up and continued down the cave followed by Outcast.

Soon she stepped over a trap door and nearly fell in, but Outcast caught her and pulled her back up. "Keep your eye on everything." He said.

"I can only see in one direction, am I supposed to have eyes on the back of my head?" she retorted.

"Just keep moving and don't screw up, we don't know what this guy's deal is." Outcast replied. The two did just that and moved on. They watched their step and dodged traps until they reached a dead end.

"Now we have to go back." Lady said.

"Yeah, so we should keep moving" Outcast confirmed.

Striker and Photon looked at the rocks fallen in their path. "I think I can get these rocks out our way by pushing with my constructs, but there's a chance they'll fall on us." Photon said.

"Or I can just supercharge the particles inside of them until they blow up." Striker replied.

"Is that what you do?" Photon asked. "I thought you were just normal."

"Watch." Striker replied and place his hand on one of the fallen rocks. Within seconds the rocks were starting to glow a little bit. Seconds after that, they blew up, leaving dust in their former position. Photon fanned some of the dust away with an energy construct.

"Cool." He said.

"I know I'm awesome, but there's a criminal at the end of this cave, keep it movin'." Striker said. "We probably could move faster if you built like a scooter or something."

"Oh and get caught by every trap on this path, yeah man, that's a brilliant plan." Photon joked.

"Guess we're walking then." Striker replied. The duo resumed walking.

Outcast, Blue Specter, Obsidian, Lady Shogun and Osseous all met outside the cave. Except Osseous was still unconscious and being carried by his cousin. "So you two found a dead end too." Specter said to Outcast and Lady.

"Yes, that means Photon and Striker are going to encounter the bomber." Lady Shogun answered.

"We should help." Obsidian said.

"No, let them handle this." Outcast replied.

Striker and Photon had destroyed many traps on their way through the cave. Soon they had reached the end. Gregory sat with the eight hostages holding a pistol. The captives were tied up and gagged in the corner. As the two vigilantes walked into that part of the cave, Stilson raised his gun to aim at the two with one hand. He held the remote in the other.

"It's too late." He said. "This remote will set off the explosion when I let go of the button, now be a good two heroes and let me out safely."

"After what you've done, you'll be coming out in a body bag." Striker said. Gregory fired off a round at Striker only for each to be blocked by an energy construct made by Photon.

"I will kill us all." Stilson yelled. He released the button and smiled. The smirk disappeared as he looked back at the remote. The button was being held down by an energy construct. "No, that's not fair."

"You killed 15 people, was that fair, you were going to kill everyone in this cave, is that fair; fairness was shredded and thrown out three different windows when you sent that message to the news." Photon said. The energy construct was pulled out of Stilson's hand and brought over to Photon. He used another construct to pin Stilson to the wall.

Striker walked over to the hostages and untied them. They ran out the cave scared of what would happen next.

"You're just like the Justice League, you won't kill me, you're heroes." Gregory stated.

"If we were heroes we'd be on the league already, but no we are exactly as the world sees us; we're vigilantes, criminals." Striker explained.

The two walked out the cave, leaving Stilson in there as he screamed for help, claiming that they were crazy. As they left the exit Photon let go of the button and the explosion went off, killing Stilson.

"That was seriously messed up; I told him he'll leave in a body bag, now he'll have to settle for a plastic baggy." Striker said. Photon laughed and noticed that the others were standing right there.

"Let's go back to base if you two are done bonding over an explosion, let's get back to base." Blue Specter said.

Minutes later the team had returned to the headquarters. "You two staying this time?" Obsidian said to Osseous and Lady Shogun.

"No, I don't like this line of work that much." Osseous said. "Maybe if Specter could convince me though…."

"You're free to leave now Osseous." Blue Specter said.

"Aww, why you gotta be like that?" he asked, walking out the building.

"How about you Lady, we could use another girl on the team." Specter asked.

"I have to meet my father in Japan and I'll be gone for a while." Shogun replied, walking out the door behind Osseous.

"Well that was a good day for us now wasn't it?" Striker asked the group.

Void set down the case in Koor's cell. "Now is time for your first dose of my new serum, the one that will make you obey my every word, and it'll all be thanks to Dr. Masters." He opened the case and pulled out a needle.

"If you know, he is a brain specialist and many of the Apex Network's members are controlled the same way." Void explained. "Now, you have incredibly strong will, so you will take four mixtures of this serum and nanobots which I will inject into your head."

The boy looked at Void, hate in his eyes and fists clenched. He hated that he was tied to a chair; otherwise he would've escaped long ago. "And to make it all worse," Void started. This gained Koor's attention. What could possibly be worse than having a mind controlling shot put into your head? "We found the frequency that your brain uses to control technology and made these nanobots immune to them, they'll go straight into your brain and make you obey me."

"You'll pass out from this and wake up with a headache, of course that won't matter." Void injected the needle into the side of Koor's head. The boy blacked out probably for hours.

_(Flashback)_

_Koor was very young then, eight years old maybe. Earlier during a confrontation, his family had just been killed by a man with powers over electricity. The blonde haired boy himself was put in the hospital by it, the injuries were critical and the doctors weren't very sure he'd survive. That is except for one._

"_I can help him I'm sure of it, but he won't live if you don't let me use my nanotech." He said._

"_No it's too risky, he might die and we'd be pointed at for giving him experimental medical vaccines, especially if it involves nanotech." Another yelled._

"_What choice do we have, do you really care that much about this hospitals image to let a child die?" the first doctor said back._

"_It will put many of our careers in jeopardy and if it does work and it has a backfire, the boy will wish he was dead." The second argued. "That's the last word on it, now it's time for you to leave."_

_The sound of the two walking away could be heard from Koor's room. He heard all of it, he could die either way. This worried him for a long time as he was in the hospital bed._

_Soon a nurse came quietly in with a syringe. "I'm here on behalf of Dr. Jacobs, I'm positive that his nanotech will work and I am going to inject you withit." She whispered. "This will make you better and will only sting a little bit." She put the needle in Koor's arm and the nanotech worked its way through Koor's body. "Now just go to sleep."_

_The nurse snuck out of the room quietly. Clearly she shouldn't have been in there, but Koor didn't care. He trusted her, injecting anything into a patient can get someone fired and possibly put in jail. If the nurse was willing to risk her job for him, he could trust her._

**The end of the longest chapter I've ever written. Hopefully it is good too. Five thousand plus words, WOOHOO!**

**Now I'll be accepting characters to appear in future chapters. However if they appear in this "Season" they will only be reserve members until the second "Season."**

**As I said at the beginning I am taking names for the team and until then, the name will be the Underground. I am doing this because there is already a team in the DC Universe with the name I originally picked.**

**Again, thanks to JBAT13 for helping me with part of this chapter. **

**Koor belongs to Undiscovered Poet.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I know, long wait. I had to switch to a different computer after my last one broke and it took me around a week after getting the new one to find out how to type stuff on it. **

**Disclaimer: DC Comics and all of its characters do not belong to me.**

_(Apex Network)_

Void moved down the hall in a hurry, pushing two unsuspecting scientists out the way. He was struggling to get to the end and he fell down as he bumped into the tall brute known as Fortis. "Sorry sir." He spoke in a thick Russian accent. Fortis was a Russian scientist that tried to work on a strength serum that wasn't addictive like the venom Bane used, it was permanent and he is now permanently strong. Void had pulled him to that dimension to be some of the muscle in the group.

"Fortis get me to my quarters quick." Void commanded. Fortis nodded and didn't hesitate to pick up Void with ease and sprint down the hall, breaking a door leading to large staircase. He used all of the superhuman strength in his legs to jump up the several flights of stairs. As he landed at the top, he rushed his boss through the door and down the hall to a room at the end where he stopped.

Void was put down and almost as quickly as Fortis moved he opened the door and rushed to the other side of the room. He opened a box and pulled out a needle filled with blue substance that seemed to glow. He pulled off his shirt to reveal a large black spot on his back that was growing. He injected himself with the needle, shortly afterwards the spot faded away and his back looked normal.

"Sir, are you okay?" Fortis said approaching his leader.

"Yes, you are dismissed." He said, breathing heavily. He sat down on a chair and sighed as Fortis walked away. "It's getting worse."

_(Jadeite City)_

"Si perde [**you lose**]." Obsidian stated, lifting the final thug off the ground and smiling. "Now you're going to jail with the rest of your gang." Black stone encased his forehead as he proceeded to headbutt the thug. As he walked out the building from its back entrance he turned on his earpiece. "My patrol is over and I caught a small banda di ladri [**gang of thieves**]."

"Awesome, but back at base Outcast found a small bit of information." Striker replied from the other end. "You may be leader, but he's been doing your job for you ever since you became the boss."

"Zitto bastardo [**shut up bastard**]. We all know you couldn't do better than me or him if your life depended on it." Obsidian nearly yelled back. As sirens came to the crime scene, he had already been blocks away and on a rooftop.

"Why are you so defensive bro? And I'm not immature." Striker smirked, knowing that at the time his Italian friend couldn't hurt him.

"Because you are not fit for the part and..."

"That's not what she said."

"Who is this "She" that people keep talking about?"

"And what makes it funnier, you have no sense of humor and you're not as modern as other people, anyone else would've got that, but even when you were normal you lived without a social life." Striker said. "All you had was your cousin?"

"At least I'm not the one who was on the news for a bar fight, which you lost, against a woman, a forty-six year old drunk woman at that too." Obsidian smiled. "And to add insult to injury you were being charged with assault." There was a slightly awkward silence among the two.

"That was uncalled for, you know I'm an idiot when I'm drunk."

Obsidian, after twenty minutes of running across rooftops, was back at base. As he walked into the seemingly abandoned apartment building he checked to see if anyone was following him and went down the stairs to the HQ. He entered the room and walked past Blue Specter and Photon before slapping Striker in the back of the head and approaching Outcast.

"What did you get?" He asked.

"Have you checked the worldwide news lately?" Outcast replied with another question.

"I do every day, why?"

"If you've checked every day you'd realize that starting in the east there were a string of murders that were all solved, similar to those of Jack the Ripper." Outcast started. "I noticed that each murder is a few miles west of the last and stopped when they got to the end of Europe only to appear in again starting at New York and continue west."

"And you think they're here in Jadeite," He replied. Outcast nodded. "But we cannot go around looking throughout the city for one man, we need to narrow down the options."

"This man in particular has killed fifty women, thirty men, sixteen children, eighty teenagers, and many animals; racking up a body count of over two hundred. The most common of all of these results were women as nearly all of the teenagers and children picked were girls. The still large amount of men, little kids and teenage boys killed all have been detectives on his trail or in the teen and child's case have met a suspicious person." He pulled up many small pictures of people of all ages. "It is believed that every victim was stalked and when he knew enough he lured them in for a kill earning him the nickname Trapdoor Spider since a trapdoor spider does just that, lure in it's prey and drag them into their trap door."

"Lui e malato [**he is sick**], but there has to be a way to tell if a murder belongs to him or not." Obsidian couldn't believe what he was hearing. There's a modern age Jack the Ripper on the loose and he's in the city. "How can we determine this?"

"Simple, similar to Jack the Ripper, he cuts the vocal cords and then surgically removes their insides, killing them, any homicide similar to that is his."

"I'm gonna puke." Photon said running out the room. Specter looked at Striker as if he was going to do the same.

"I have a strong stomach." Striker smiled.

"I'm positive we're not the only ones looking for him as his pattern is obvious. Expect seeing a League member or bumping into the Question." Outcast said. "I suggest you all watch each others back and don't stay alone if you're going to look for him or not, I'm staying here to study him more. If you see someone that looks strange, do not confront him, just see what he looks like and move away before he sees you and picks you as a target."

"Okay so that's all for the night, good because I am going to go hire more rich guy security for my out of costume self." Striker announced, turning to exit the building.

"Before you go, just know that some psychopaths will see heavily guarded people as a challenge." Obsidian replied. "If it seems you're scared of a person like him, he'll probably feel like he should target you."

"I can blow stuff up by touching them, I can most definitely protect against a stalker if he gets through." He ran out the door to leave after this.

(_Apex Network)_

"Dr. Ward, it sped up, your cure didn't stop my deteriorating body." Void smashed his fist into a table, putting a hole in it. He looked up at the doctor with a mix of hatred, anger, and fear in his eyes. "Why is this happening?"

"There is a virus in the air here that if taken in for too long will begin to grow over your body and once it completely covers you, you will completely decay into nothing in less than an instant. Since you've been in this realm for 25 years, you need more of this cure everyday, so over the past two weeks me and Dr. Masters were working on a solution." Ward explained. He was a tall skinny doctor who appeared to be emotionless as nothing scared or surprised him. He pulled up a small box from under the table Void just broke and opened it. "Now Isaac, if you'd put these on..."

_(Jadeite City)_

A man walked down the street smiling widely. He was a six foot tall pale skinned old man, from his build he seemed to be formerly athletic and now weakened, however he hides it under a large black coat. He walked with a black cane to support himself on what seemed to be a bad knee. A hand grabbed him by his grey hair and pulled him into an ally, then pressing him against a wall.

"If you don't want me to hurt you, you'll give me your money." A thug said to the man. This man retained his smile, but it had now moved to a near sadistic look. "Ain't you scared, I've got a gun."

"I came to this city in search of the blood of some unfortunate souls." He announced. His voice seemed gravelly and rough as if his vocal cords were damaged.

"What are ya talking 'bout?" The thug, unfocused, loosened his grip on the elderly man. The man grabbed the thugs wrist and twisted it. He snatched the gun from his hand and shot the thug's foot, causing him to fall backwards.

"Looks like you were very unfortunate tonight." The old man's changed from it's rough sound to a chilling, raspy whisper that sounded years younger. His face morphed into a young man with a scar over his left eye and black hair. Shortly after his body shrunk to that of a 5'8 man with a slim build. "The only thing you'll get from me tonight is the end of my blade."

He pressed the cane up to his shoulder and on the press of a button a blade came out the tip and stabbed the thug's shoulder. "I'd like to know where the best place to hide is."

(_Underground HQ)_

Outcast took off his mask and looked at multiple images from around the world. All were newspaper headlines, each one of the murders pulled up were by the same man. The earliest one was six years ago in Japan, which to Outcast meant that the man he's looking for could be Japanese. From the style of the murders, the man has to have medical experience. From several statements of suspicious people, every single one had brown eyes, but none had the same facial or body description.

Out of all of this, all Outcast can tell is that the person they're hunting could be a former Japanese surgeon, a brown eyed man wearing many masks or it could actually be many people that have surgical experience and all have brown eyes. Looking at the murders more closely, there were no fingerprints left at any scene.

He didn't know how to track him. This person never left evidence and was never described the same. Maybe this will turn out just like the Jack the Ripper cases. Maybe no one will find this killer and he'll reach the west coast. He managed to slip past Gotham and Hub City, homes of the two best detectives in the world, The Batman and The Question. How could he do what they couldn't.

He took off his mask and sighed. He was just an ordinary detective nearing his late forties. He didn't learn anything about solving one of the hardest cases in the world. This guy seemed like an ordinary killer, but he had some sort of advantage. It could be help from the outside or a superhuman ability. Outcast can't spare another favor from Malice, as when he takes advantage of a favor, it could be fatal and he couldn't take the risk of himself having to do two favors for him in the future.

He picked up a phone and dialed a number. The person he called was one of his last hopes, his brother. "I need your help." He said when the number was picked up.

"Sean, it's probably 12 AM there, but here it's 6 AM and that's too early for me." His brother replied. "What do you want?"

"Dylan, I need to know what you know about a killer known as the Trapdoor Spider."

"I met him once, creepy guy, I was on the way to kill one of my targets for half a million dollars four years ago and when I got there he did it for fun." This answer surprised Outcast, no one has ever been recorded as knowing this psychopath. "Why should I tell you anymore?"

"You know I don't arrest family, by I'm willing to change that if you don't tell me what I need to know."

"We all know I'd get out, again. Anyways, Trapdoor is a shapeshifter that can change anything, but his eyes and fingerprints, which is why he stays away from eye and hand scanners. There are no pictures of his original self nor are his parents or any of his victims alive. No one I know, know his real name."

"Is that all? What am I supposed to do with that information? Do you realize that lives are in jeopardy?" Outcast yelled through the phone. "Tell me what I want or I will-"

"Do what Sean? Just like thirty years ago, you're weaker than me, I'm better than you, you fear me. Me and this guy you're looking for are both criminals with no care for life, but the thing you forget is that I want compensation." Dylan said calmly. He was the older brother that took on a different path, starting by moving to Asia. Sean hadn't seen him in nearly fifteen years, but they kept in touch. "I heard you owe Malice a favor, that means you're willing to give up your life for him, I am your brother and you're not even willing to pay me for anything. You even threaten me, which is stupid because I am everything you are and more, give me a reason to help and I will."

"I'll give you mom's necklace." It hurt for Sean to say this. His mother's necklace was valuable to him and his brother was dead to him.

"So you've had mom's necklace, I thought stepdad took it. Anyhow, if I don't get it by next week, I'm coming to take it." Dylan chuckled. "In my thirty years of killing people, I've never seen anyone do it like Trapdoor. He was a monster. What you need to know about him is that he and I learned from the same blade master so he can cut you up just as good as I. He is often seen with a black cane, silver Japanese Kanji detail around the handle. His most common personas are an old Scottish man, a blind Chinese kid, and an emo white guy. I even have"

"How do you know all this?"

"I'm planning on letting him rack up so many kills he gets a hit on his head worth millions of dollars and then I'll hunt him down and kill him, I doubt you'll stop him though." He answered. "Now I'll be expecting mom's necklace in the mail, unless you're delivering yourself or want me to come hurt you for it." Dylan laughed and hung up the phone, leaving Sean, the Outcast to the silence of the headquarters.

(_Apex Network)_

Void walked into Koor's "room" with an ear to ear grin on his face. His forearms had gauntlets with tubes attached, filled with the glowing blue substance used earlier. Under his shirt a faint blue light was visible where his heart would be. "Hello, my little weapon. Has my nano technology affected your system yet?" The boy was still gagged and couldn't answer the man. However, his feet were free, so he kicked his captor in the shin only for him to hurt his toe. "Metal shin guards and before you think about it, yes I am wearing a cup. I see that it hasn't affected you yet."

"I'm going to check out the first batch's results first then we'll give you the new batch later today." Void walked behind Koor and untied his hands. As soon as Koor was untied, he got up and reared back a fist to punch Void, but he couldn't send it forward. Why not? "Good, at least one of the nanobots made it to your brain and now it is unable to send a signal to your body that harms me."

The boy looked at the exit and ran for it, but Void created a portal in front of him. Koor ended up running through it and found himself falling from the ceiling and landing on the ground. Void picked him up and laughed as he tied Koor's hands together once more. "You can't go out there, there's technology out there!" He said with all seriousness in his voice. "Your brainwaves can't control technology while you're in this special room, that's why I'm safe. Anyways, I have to go get the new nanotech to give you."

He walked out the room and shut the air tight sealed door.

_(Jadeite City)_

"What a nice place." The man with a cane said as he looked upon a seemingly abandoned apartment building. He walked in and through the dusty lobby. It looked like no one ever used the place to him. It looked perfect.

His peace was then interrupted by a punch to the jaw, which knocked him down. The man's face changed into that of an old homeless man before he looked back up to see what hit him.

Outcast felt guilt when he saw the homeless man on the ground. He punched him after all. "Sorry, but what are you doing here?"

"I'm here because it's free." The man in disguise lied. "Why are you?"

"I've lived here for ten years because no one ever comes here." he replied. Outcast looked over the man below him and saw his cane. Japanese Kanji on the handle. "The real question is why are you lying to my face?" He grabbed the "old homeless man" by his shirt and lifted him up.

"No, no, no, the real question is, why would you let me close to your face?" He shifted back to the black haired man from before. He poked Outcast's eyes then smacked his ears, making him momentarily blind and deaf. He stomped on the ground, prompting a blade to come out the toe of his boot, which he used to stab the vigilante's leg in three different spots; his knee, shin and thigh.

Outcast was now down on his knees. This guy was faster than he thought, young as well. He pressed a button on his shoe that sent a distress signal to his team before the man he was sure would be Trapdoor Spider, headbutted him, knocking him unconscious.

The team, in minutes, was across the street on the roof of a building. It was very rare that Outcast called for help as he was the "I'll do it myself" type of guy. They knew what this was about, they didn't expect this person to reveal their self that soon.

"So what's the plan leader?" Striker asked Obsidian. "Not like you actually have plans anyways, Outcast makes all of those for us." Photon and Blue Specter glared at their teammate. To their surprise Obsidian's stone covered fist ended up smashing into Striker's face.

"Hai bisogno di essere insegnato il rispetto [**you need to be taught respect**], but that will come another time, right now we need to save Outcast from a homicidal maniac." He offered a hand to Striker. "I always have an enter and escape plan, I was a thief before I was a vigilante. Here's our plan..."

Spider set Outcast down on a table downstairs in the HQ. "My lucky day, I didn't plan to kill anyone until next week and today I got two, the thug who pointed me here and you." He pulled four knives and many chains out of a pocket in his jacket. He stabbed near Outcast's feet and hands then bound them to the knives with the chains. "I know you can't hear me while you're unconscious, but a vigilante like yourself is interesting, I haven't studied one of those yet."

Outcast was now starting to wake up. He yanked at the chains, but those knives couldn't be pulled out the table. "Why do you do this?"

"Oh, you're awake now and you want an explanation. I do this for my own pleasure, my parents were surgeons and I was a scientific prodigy . I'm just passionate about my work." He explained. "Now let's see what makes a person as strong willed as a vigilante tick." Spider set his cane down and opened his jacket and pulling out random supplies from pockets inside. Goggles, knives, face masks, lights, it was like his pockets never ended.

"Do you want to hear about the crime that gave me the name Trapdoor Spider?" He asked. "Of course you do, you've been investigating me." Trapdoor pointed at the screen to Outcast's computer, where there were still clips of newspaper headlines pulled up. "There was this girl I met once. Of course she was as you'd say "out of my league", so I stalked her for two days and I found out she liked reading. Knowing this I killed the clerk to the bookstore she went to and took his place as an old man who couldn't see too well. I gained her trust over two weeks and then got her to come behind the counter where I had a trapdoor rigged to open when I tap my cane on the ground twice."

"She thought I couldn't read the words on the screen and it is her fault for it. No one else was in the shop so no one saw me open the trapdoor, causing her to fall. I then had came down after her and you know the rest." He put on his gloves, smiling widely as he then picked up his knife. His smile dropped as he heard something fall. "An interruption at a time like this, expected."

He left the struggling vigilante alone to find out what was happened. Two blades dropped down from his sleeves. He found that he couldn't move his feet any longer and looked down to see hands holding onto his ankles. When he looked back up he was greeted with a blue blast of energy, launching him backwards. He was then hit by a stone covered punch. "What the hell is happ-" He stopped as he saw a rock lying on the ground right in front of him. It was glowing.

"Daiben." He muttered before the rock blew up in his face. He was down.

"Hell yeah, we won!" Striker yelled leaving his hiding spot. Blue Specter floated out the ground and Photon and Obsidian came out of the shadows. They looked down on the unconscious man. Striker smiled. "This wimp killed two hundred, yeah right?"

"Kill him before he gets up!" Outcast yelled from the other side of the room. Trapdoor Spider pounced up and poked Specter in several places, causing her to pass out. He had taken her out first, believing the ghost girl was his biggest threat. Striker reacted and threw a kick towards the criminal's chest, but the serial killer caught his foot and kicked his crotch, laughing as he did so, he kicked Striker in the side of the head to knock him out. Photon ducked the swipe of a blade Trapdoor sent towards him and sent towards him. He tried to use his energy construct to grab the man by his legs and pull him down, but Trapdoor jumped up and dropkicked the construct using vigilante.

"Orokashii ahou." He spoke in Japanese as he looked at the last one standing, Obsidian. "I took down your leader with ease, what made you think you untrained fools could stop me?" He swung a blade at Obsidian, who blocked it with a black stone covered arm. "Six unplanned kills in one day, this'll be entertaining."

He swung the blade once again at Obsidian. This time the Italian dodged the slash and kicked the blade with enough force to knock it out his hand. "He's not the leader," Trapdoor Spider stabbed towards Obsidian's chest and blocked it in his stone arm. As it was stuck in his arm Obsidian took his other hand to smash down on the blade, breaking it. "I am." The two exchanged a series of strikes.

Obsidian was caught off guard by a small knife being stabbed into his stone covered chest. It blew up, causing his protective suit of stone to fall apart, leaving his body open. Trapdoor kneed the Italian in the stomach, making him double over and then did a sweep knocking him down.

"It's about time that I leave, people like you make my job so much harder." He said before running out the building. Photon stood up and tried to chase after the killer, but Obsidian stopped him.

"He's highly trained; if I knew this I would've chosen a different plan, you of all people taking him on alone will get you killed." He said.

Blue Specter got up. "I passed out, all he did was poke me." she said, shocked at how easily she was taken down. She is a better fighter than the average person, but never has she been taken down by pokes.

"If he has surgical experience and martial arts experience he must know the body's pressure points." Obsidian explained as he walked over to Outcast and freed him from the chaiins holding him on the table. He tried to get up right away, but fell, holding his injured leg.

"His cane, he left it over there." Outcast gestured towards the black cane lying on the ground a few feet away. "Give it to me."

"But we can scan it for fingerprints." Obsidian protested.

"We'll kill him tonight, he doesn't leave fingerprints behind so what's the use anyways." Outcast stood up, pulling bandages from under the table. "My brother told me there are no records of his fingerprints, scanning is worthless and he said this cane is used by him all the time." Obsidian handed Outcast the black cane. He used it to help himself up and support him while he struggled to walk to the computer. "I don't think I can go out to help, but the least I can do is investigate from here." He sat in his chair to think.

"Did he really beat you?" Photon asked.

"He was young and fast, I'm getting old and not fast enough. Now I'm not sure I can fight anymore." He looked down at his leg. "He impaled my leg three times in three different spots, even if I recover, any quick hit to the knee will put me down."

"You don't need to fight to be one of us, you're the only trained detective here and can help from here." Obsidian put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Now, abbiamo bisogno di sapere [**we need to know**]. How can we find him?"

"He's a shapeshifter, his favorite three are an old Scottish man, blind Chinese kid, and an emo, whatever the hell that is." Outcast smiled. "Find that bastard, and kill him for me."

"We'll find him." Blue Specter stated. "But I doubt that he'll be easy to find." The four left the room at this, leaving Outcast alone once again.

Trapdoor Spider had finally slowed down around ten blocks away from the HQ. He took a deep breath as he walked into an alley and sat down beside a dumpster. "That was an unexpected encounter, they almost got the best of me." He muttered. "They'll begin hunting me now."

"But I'll get to them first." He got up and smirked. "And when I do, I'll send a message to all vigilantes."

**That's the end of this two part chapter, I wish it could've been longer. I kind of wanted to get through with this guy in one chapter, but I didn't want to keep you all waiting any longer for a chapter. It's probably not that well edited either.**

**This was about a variation of a character I thought up that after many changes ended up with his final version being a serial killer. I wish I was more experienced so I could write him better though.**

**Review so I know what you all thought of this chapter. Was it good? Was it bad? Was it complete crap? Tell me the truth please. I want to know if I should continue this story.**


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